This page explains about the log billing of Service log and Maintenance log.
Invoicing
In terms of timing, you can send invoices to client in various ways:
At the end of the service: Wait until all services are completed and send one invoice.
Bill as you go: Invoice the client for each activity or transaction as it happens by creating an invoice before marking the service as 'completed.' For this, the Log should not have its own Charge Type. These invoices will also appear in the Completion tab.
Both: A combination of both methods: bill for each transaction and, when the service is finished, send an invoice for any remaining items.
In the term of billing source, you can invoice the Client:
Directly from Log: normally applied for Small Job or by transactions via the Charge Type Input/Output based.
By Job that Log belongs to: This method is applicable only for Jobs (mean project, not the Service itself) that have the Charge Type specified as Contract Claim.
To generate invoice:
Click on the ‘Invoice’ button on the log detail screen.
The 'Job Sales Invoice' screen will appear.
Input additional information and select the appropriate button based on the situation (e.g., assigning it to another person). Alternatively, click 'Get Sales' button to generate the lines details. Note: The buttons displayed on this screen may vary depending on user permissions.
All the next steps are similar as normal Job sales Invoices process.
Note:
Anyone who can access the logs, can generate the invoice by clicking the button 'Invoice'.
Maintenance log does not have 'Charge Type'.
Regardless of the billing method chosen, once an invoice is generated, it will follow the Job Sale process.
The Completion tab will display a summary of what is outstanding to be billed and list of generated invoices of the log.
Log charge types
You can set the Charge Type of a Log when creating or editing and it sticks together with the Log statues.
While the Log's Charge Type is not mandatory, it proves beneficial in ensuring all charges are invoiced to the Job, especially when the Jobs charge type is Contract Claims.
Input and Output Based Billing: only transactions linked to this Log will be available for selection on [Get Sales] of the Job Sales Invoice screen. Even if some transactions are Deferred or Pending, the [Invoice] button will still be visible, enabling billing at a later stage. On the Job Invoice, you can choose to Save, transitioning the Log's status to ‘Allocated - Billed’ workflow status. Alternatively, you can select Save & Finalise, which not only saves the Job invoice but also changes the Log's status to Finalised - Billed status. Should additional transactions need to be added, clicking [Reopen & Unfinalise] will revert the status to Allocated - Part billed, making the Log editable again. Existing invoices remain linked, and more can be generated.
Contract Claims billing:
Automatic setting by the Job the Log belongs to:
If the Log Charge Type is undefined (null), and the Log belongs to a Job with the Charge Type set as Contract Claim, the Log Charge Type will be automatically set as Contract Claims. It is necessary to flag the Log as 'Finalised' in the invoicing process. This is a sensible step to indicate that the Job has been billed, and no further action is required. This is a logical way to ensure consistency and alignment with the Job's Charge Type.Manual billing from Contract Claim:
When the Log is not billed directly and billing is intended to be done from a Contract Claim with a manual line, there's an option to Save and Finalize the Log, indicating that no further action is needed. This step makes sense, signaling completion when billing is indirectly associated with a Contract Claim. In this the Log billing status remains ‘Unbilled’. This is logical since there is no direct connection between the Log job transactions/outputs and the invoice.
Log billing status
There are billing statuses to better represent the billing stages for the different Charge Types on the Log (if selected) or the Charge Type on the Job. Note that if there is no Charge Type selected on the Log, then the system uses the Job’s charge type. Refer to the Service log for more details.
Charge type | Log - Billing Status |
Quoted |
|
Input / Output |
|
Claim |
|
Diagram
Logs attachments when billing
Any Log attachments will be available to be selected and attached to the Job Invoice email together with the invoice PDF.
All Job invoices linked to this Log will be listed on the Completion tab, with direct links to the Job Invoices.
Alternatively, Jobs transactions or Job outputs can be billed from Bulk Invoice Creation or from the Job itself, only if the Log does not have its own Charge Type. These invoices will also be displayed in the Completion tab.
Billing 'Small Jobs' from a Log
The invoice will be created for the Client on the Service Log, rather than the Client on the Job on the Service Log.
These two can be different, and a common scenario would be in those cases where there are very small jobs done for different Clients, that do not have a specific Job set up in Workbench for it, but rather a generic/cath-all Job for Small Jobs, where the Client could be the Internal company. This generic Job can be used on the Logs, and typically once the work is done is billed right away from the Log to the specific Client to whom the service has been provided for.
Note: ‘Bulk Invoice Creation’ functionality cannot be used to bill these Logs, because the Invoice created will be for the Job’s Client which is the internal company, and it will have a mix of Transactions done for different clients on different Logs.